Close fitting jewelry article



May 29, 1951 M. c. MEYER CLOSE FITTING JEWELRY ARTICLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed June 29, 1949 May 29., 1951 M. c. MEYER CLOSE FITTING JEWELRYARTICLE 2 Shgets-Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1949 INVEN'I'OR. MAX/MM m/vfire/3 Patented May 29, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a snug fitting type of necklace or bracelet.More particularly it relates to a choker or dog collar type of bead orpearl necklace.

An object of this invention is to provide a snug fitting necklace orbracelet which hugs the neck or the wrist of the person wearing the samewithout uncomfortably constricting the neck or Wrist. Another object ofthe invention is to provide a choker necklace having limitedstretchability in which the elastic stretching means is concealed.

' Another object of the invention is to provide a choker type ofnecklace or bracelet which hugs the neck or the wrist and yet which haslimited stretchability to take care of muscular changes or changes inblood pressure such as caused by sneezing, over-exertion or temperaturechanges. These objects and others ancillary thereto are obtained byincluding in a head or pearl necklace as part of the string or chainspring means adapted to pull the string or chain together. The springmeans is relatively weak. That is, it is just strong enough to supportor hold the weight of the beads on the necklace or bracelet tight but itisweak enough to be changed by a slight pressure from the neck or wristwhich the necklace or bracelet surrounds. The stretchability of thesprings is limited by a chain or string means so that the relativelyweak spring is not distorted if accidentally stretched. The springportion of the necklace is covered by pearlsor beads so that the springis concealed when the latter is not extended.

The term bead is understood to include pearls and other ornamentalmaterials which have a hole passing through the same for threading ontoa chain or string. The beads may be spherical, ellipsoidal, cylindrical,disk-shaped, etc. and may be made of glass, gem stone, plastic, ceramicor paper. The beads may all be of the same size, the size may begraduated or nonordered variation in size may be produced.

The flexible member which is threaded through the beads may be atextile-type of thread or string, azchain or a wire. The spring or chainrestraining member may be separate from the flexible member passingthrough it or it may be a continuation of the stringer chain whichpasses through the main group of beads. The spring may be a compressionor extension type of coil spring. Where a compression type of springis'employed the amount of movement is limited by the spacing between thecoils.

, The novel features characteristic of this invention are set forth withparticularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however,both as to its organization and its method of operation, together withadditional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood fromthe following description of specific embodiments when read inconnection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a two strand choker necklace partly brokenaway.

Figure 2 is a detail view of a spring containing portion of'the necklaceof Figure 1 while the spring is in released or closed position.

Figure 3 is a detailed view of the spring containing portion similar toFigure 2 except that the spring is in extended or stretched position.

Figure 4 is a detail view similar to Figure 3 of a modified form of theinvention.

Figure 5 is a detail view of another modified form of the invention.

Figure 6 is a detail view of a modified form of spring means. I

Figure '7 is a detail view of still another modi fication.

Figure Sis a detail view of another modification of the invention.

The two strand choker necklace of Figure 1 is made similar to any twostrand head or pearl necklace except for the top portion thereof whichis' shown broken away. The ordinary part of the necklace comprises thebeads I8, [0 and the strings or connecting means l5, l5. As shown at theright hand side of Figure 2, the bead has regular size orifice 2!}therethrough. The regular beads It and strings I5, Hi however are notconnected directly to the clasp 46, 4! but the string I5, I5 is knottedat l6, it to the links IT, IS which in turn are linked to the end link29 of the chain which comprises links 38, 3|. The bead I! which isadapted to surround the knot l6 and links I! and i8 has an orifice 2|which is slightly larger than the orifice 26 of the regular bead l0.

The chain 30, 3| is surrounded by a helical spring 40 and the end link29 is soldered to the end 4! of this spring. Whereas the links 32 and 33at the other. end of the chain are soldered to the end 42 of the spring49. The extended link of the chain 30, 3! is somewhat longer than therelaxed link of the helical spring 40 and the links 30, 3| between theend links 29, 32 and 33 are free of attachment to the spring 40 so thatthe spring can be stretched from the position shown in Figure 2 to theposition shown in Figure 3.

The end link 33 of the chain 30, 3| is attachedv to the closed hookmember 35 which has a button end 36. The neck of the hook 35 extendsthrough the orifice 31 of the hooded hook member 38 so that the button36 is rotatable in the the hooded portion 39 of the member 38. The hookmember 38 is in turn attached to the opening 45 of the female claspmember 46. This female clasp member 46 has an opening 48 in which toreceive and lock the male clasp member 41. The beads 12 which surroundthe spring member 48 have openings 22 which are large enough toaccommodate the spring- 40 and the bead 13 has an opening 23 which islarge enough to accommodate the spring 40 and the hook 35.

As a general rule the orifices in beads ll, 12 and 13 are approximatelythe same size but this is not necessarily the case.

The end construction of the string I is substantially the same as thatof the string I5-and the opposite ends of the strings l5 and 15 may beprovided with similar extensible means as shown in Figure 1 although ifdesired the second spring can be omitted.

By this construction it is possible to insert a very weak spring memberinto a choker or a bracelet which spring is responsive to body changesbut is not strong enough to constrict the flow of blood or otherwiseuncomfortably restrain the wearer.

According to the modified form of the device shown in Figure 4, thestring I5 extends through the spring 38' as well as the remainder of thebeads of the necklace. Several of the turns of the spring 30 at each endthereof are bent outwardly from the axis of the spring as shown at 51and 52 and several of the penultimate turns are soldered together asshown at 50 and 52. The turns at 51 and 53 may also be solderedtogether.

Preferably these turns at 50 and 52 are soldered before the string 15'is inserted therein. The string 15 is secured to the spring 30 by beingknotted or wrapped about the loops 51 and 53 as shown at 60 and GIrespectively. The length of string between the knots 60 and BI is loosewhen the spring is relaxed but limits the length to which the spring 30'can be extended as shown in Figure 4. The bead adjacent the end 51, ofthe spring 30' is just an ordinary bead IL in this modification. Thestring 15' may be knotted between the beads as shown at 54. Anadditional knot 63 can be added between the soldered turns 52 and thebent loop 53 to keep the string from slipping. The knot 63 is preventedfrom moving relative to the spring 38' by the solder not shown, whichextends inwardly from the united turns 52. The string 30 extends throughthe opening 31 of the hook element 38 and is secured thereto by the knot62.

The modification shown in Figure 5 is similar in construction to thatshown in Figure 4 except that in Figure 5 the end loops 53' of thespring 38" are bent back to their original position to clamp the knot 6|of the string l5 against the soldered turns 52. V

In the modification shown in Figure 6, the end 11 of the spring 38"crosses the axis of the spring and is secured against displacement bythe solder 18 on the inside of the soldered turns 52. The string I5" isthen knotted to this crossed end 11 at 64'. The opposite end of thespring may be secured to the string 15" in a similar way or it may besecured as shown in Figures 4 or 5. If desired the cross pieces1l may 4be curved to form the conventional type of spring with hooked ends.

It is also possible to employ a compression type of spring as shown inFigure '1. The compression spring 12 is held in the casing 11 by theinternal circular flange 16 at the open end thereof. The opposite end ofthe spring is free to move within the casing 11 but in normally relaxedcondition, the spring tends to extend the full length of the said casing1|. The end of the string 15 is attached to the hook 14 by the knot 15.The end portion of the string I5 is surrounded by one or more beads 11which have openings 20 large enough to permit the hook 14 to passtherethrough.

The hook 14 is attached to a plug 11 fitting into the opening 1'8 of thecasing 1| and the chain 13 (shown diagrammatically) is secured at oneend to the plug 11 and at the other end to a disk member 19 adapted tobear against the end of spring 12. The end of the casing 1| contains ahook 88 by which it is attached to the hook 35 associated with themembers 38 and as in Figures 1, 2 and 4. If desired the casing 11 can beslightly curved although as a practical matter the back of the neckwhere the spring portion of the necklace will ordinarily be situateddoes not have a large curvature.

According to the modification shown in Figure 8 the spring 40 is heldagainst unlimited expansion by the chain 80. A plurality of links 81, 8|at the inside end of the chain 80 and a plurality of. links 82, 82 atthe outside end thereof are made of a larger size than the intermediatelinks. These large links 81, 8|, 82, 82 are practically as large as theinternal diameter of the spring 48 and because of their size arefastened to the soldered ends of the chain by the said solder, The endlink 82 is fastened directly to the hook element 84 and the end link 81is fastened directly to the string or other flexible member carrying themajor part of the pearls or beads.

It will be seen that the present invention provides a snug fitting typeof necklace or bracelet with a concealed spring contracting means whichpermits one to easily secure the necklace or bracelet to the bodywithout causing strangulation and which holds the necklace or braceletfirmly about the neck or wrist after it is attached without dangerouslyconstricting the area surrounded thereby. Although relatively weak,light, springs are employed to prevent any constriction due to thenormal variation in circumference of the neck of the wearer, etc., theselight and weak springs are protected from being strained and permanentlydistorted while the necklace is being attached, for example, so that thedurability of the necklace is not diminished. At the same time thespring elements are generally concealed and invisible while the articleis being worn.

I claim:

1. A multistrand choker type of bead necklace comprising a separable,two-part clasp adapted to be opened to place the necklace about theneck, a plurality of linear flexible members each containing asubstantially continuous series of decorative beads thereon, a pluralityof similarly constructed coil springs of relatively short lengthcompared to the length of said linear flexible members, each of saidsprings containing an internal non-stretchable element, saidnon-stretchable element being secured at the ends of the spring butloosely disposed within 5 the relaxed spring whereby to permit only alimited stretching of the spring, one end of each of the linear flexiblemembers being connected to one part of the clasp by means of its ownindividual one of said coil springs, and a plurality of beads adapted tosurround and hide the said coil springs and continue the bead seriesfrom the end of the linear flexible members to the respective parts ofthe clasp, the said length of said coil springs being short enough toprevent any substantial curvature thereof when the necklace is placed onthe neck with the clasp at the back of the neck, said linear flexiblemembers being of smaller diameter than said springs I and the openingsin the beads surrounding said springs being larger than the openings inthe beads surrounding the linear flexible members to facilitate theconcealment of the spring, the said plurality of similar coil springscooperating to substantially equally distribute any load applied to thenecklace as a whole.

2. A multistrand choker type of bead necklace comprising a separable,two-part clasp adapted to be opened to place the necklace about theneck, a plurality of linear flexible members each containing asubstantially continuous series of decorative beads thereon, a pluralityof similar coil springs corresponding to twice the number of saidflexible members and of relatively short length compared to the lengthof said linear flexible members, each of said springs containing aninternal non-stretchable element, said non-stretchable element beingsecured at the ends of the spring but loosely disposed within therelaxed.spring whereby to permit only a limited stretching of thespring, one end of each of the ,linear flexible members being connectedto one part of the clasp by means of its own individual one of said coilsprings, the other end or said linear flexible members being connectedto the other part of said clasp by means of another of its ownindividual one of said coil springs, and a plurality of beads adapted tosurroundand hide the said coil springs and continue the bead series fromthe end of the linear flexible members to the respective parts of theclasp; the said length of said coil springs being shortenough to preventsubstantial curvature thereof when the necklace is placed on the neckwiththe clasp at the back of the neck, said linear flexible membersbeing of smaller diameterthan said springs and the openings in the beadssurrounding said springs being larger than the openings in the beadssurrounding the linear flexible members to facilitate the concealment ofthe spring, the said plurality of similar coil springs cooperating tosubstantially equally distribute any load applied to the necklace as awhole.

MAXIMILIAN C. MEYER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PA'IENTS Number Name Date 403,591 Ingram May 21, 1889407,566 Ballou July 23, 1889 1,412,731 Wormser Apr. 11, 1922 1,515,499Lederer Nov. 11, 1924

